Portable floor construction



Oct. 9, 1951 w, HARRls 2,570,234

PORTABLE FLOOR CONSTRUCTION Filed April 16, 1946 A 2 3 4/56 INVENTOR.

7 6 7 /;////'Q i/m-A/ HTFOP/Yfy Patented Oct. 9, 1951 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE PORTABLE FLOOR CONTBUCTIQN Philip W. Harris, Milwaukee, Wis. Application April 16, 1946, Serial No. (5624128 1 Claim. (01. 20-6) (Granted under the act of March 3, 1883, as

The invention described hereinQif patented, may be manufactured and used by or for the Government for governmental purposes, without -the payment to me of any royalty thereon.

above ground to safeguard the articles against dampness and other adverse ground conditions is recognized. Also the use of floors for tents, portable huts, and the like, have been found desir able since their use enables tents, and the like,

to be maintained dry even under adverse ground and weather conditions. However, in moving or transporting such platforms and floors from one site to another, they are unwieldy to handle and present transportation difficulties.

It is therefore a major object of this invention to provide a portable floor construction for use as a platform or with tents, portable huts, and the like, which is made of sectional parts and which is adapted to be readily disassembled and the sections stacked into a compact package for ready and convenient transportation.

. Another object of this invention is to provide a portable floor construction of the raised-type in which the several sections thereof are of graduated sizes so that one section fits within another section to facilitate packing for transportation purposes.

It is a further object of the invention to provide ,a portable sectional floor construction in which each section has a supporting joist along one edge of the section and in which the joist protrudes to support an edge of an adjacent section.

It is still another object of this invention to provide a portable sectional floor in which one section has a pair of supporting joists along edges of the section and the remaining sections each have a single supporting joist along one edge, and in which the sections are of graduated widths so that the sections nest one within another to facilitate packing for transportation purposes.

A further object of the invention is to provide a portable sectional floor in which one section is U-shaped and the remaining sections are L- shaped, and in which the widths of the sections are graduated so that all the L-sections nest within each other and within the U-section.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will appear in the following detailed description and particularly will be pointed out in the amended April 30, 1928; 370 0. G. 757) appended claim, reference being had to the accompanying drawing forming part of this specie fication, and in which:

Fig. l is a perspective view showing the portable floor construction of this invention;

Fig. 2 is a transverse sectional view taken on line 2--2 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a perspective View of a fragmentary detail showing the manner of connecting one section of the floor to another section;

Fig. 4 is a perspective view showing the several sections of the floor as nested together for transportation urposes; and

Fig. 5 is an end view showing how the sections are packed when only one row of sections is used.

Referring to the drawing, the reference number i denotes generally the floor construction of this invention. As shown in Fig. 1, the floor of this invention consists of the several sections 2 to l, inclusive, forming row A and 2 to l, inclusive, forming row B. The several sections abut each other as at 8 and in the embodiment of Fig. 1, the two rows abut each other as at 9. Although two rows of sections are illustrated in Fig. 1, it is within the scope of this invention to utilize agreater or lesser number of rows. Also the showing of six sections in each row is by way of example and is not considered to be restrictive since a greater or lesser number of sections can be used in practicing this invention.

Each of the sections comprises a flat panel or board of wood or other suitable material denoted by the reference symbols II) to l5, inclusive, and IE to I5, inclusive. Furthermore, the sections are provided with joists or supporting bars denoted vby the reference numerals IE to 22, inclusive, and 16 to 22, inclusive, to maintain the floor boards Ill-l5, and l0l5 spaced from the ground. In the embodiment illustrated section 2 is provided with the joist I6 supporting one longitudinal edge of the floor board or panel I0 and a joist I! supporting the opposite longitudinal edge of the panel. Joist I6 is positioned flush with the edge of the panel whereas joist I7 is positioned with a portion thereof protruding beyond the adjacent edge of the panel'for .a purpose to be described hereinafter. The section 3 is provided with only one supporting joist l8 along a longitudinal edge and which joist protrudes beyond the edge of the panel or floor board similar to joist l1. Similarly sections 4, 5, and 6 are provided with single supporting joists I9, 20, and 2 I, respectively, the joist in each case protruding beyond the edge of the floor board. Section I has a single supporting joist 22 but this joist is preferably flush with the edge of the floor board. The sections 2' to I are similarly provided with supporting joists. The floor boards or panels are secured to the joists in any suitable manner as for example by the nails or screws 23.

In assembling the floor, the several sections are abutted to form row A as shown in the drawing with section 2, having two joists and being self-sustaining, being utilized as an end section. The remaining sections follow in order with the free edge of each section being placed on the protruding portion 24 of the joist of an adjacent sec tion. Section I is utilized as the last section in the row since its joist 22 lies flush with the edge of the floor board and is not adapted to support an adjacent section. The sections 2' to 1 are similarly assembled to form row B and abut the sections 2 to 1, inclusive, at 9.

The floor boards I0l5 and l0l5' protrude beyond the ends of their respectiv joists, as

shown by the reference symbol 25. This provides a bearing surface so that the several sections, if desired, can be supported'on an auxiliary joist bearing against the overlapping edges 25 as when heavy loads are contemplated. Also the overlap 25 may be utilized to abut another series of sections forming a row extending at right angles to the row A formed by sections 2 to 1, inclusive.

For example, as shown in Fig. 3 the section 6 having a floor joist 2|" may be utilized to extend the area covered by the floor.

As can be seen from Fig. l, the several sections are of the same length and height but are of graduated widths, section 2 being of greatest width and section 1 of smallest width. The graduations are determined so that when the sections are nested together as illustrated in Fig. 4 and Fig. 5, the most compact package consistent with the greatest possible floor area is obtained. This is accomplished by having each section narrower than the next largest section by an amount equal to the width of a floor joist. The advantages of this construction can be seen from Fig. 5 where the sections of row A are packed. On this figure section 2 with its joists l6 and H receive the sections 3, 4, 5, 6, and 1 in nesting relationship between joists l6 and II. This produces a package equal in width to the width of section 2 per se and a height equal to the sum of the thicknesses of the floor boards or panels and the height of one joist. Similarly the sections 2 to 1, inclusive, of row B are stacked in nesting relationship and as shown in Fig. 4, the two stacked portions 2--'l, on the one hand, and 2'1', on the other hand, may be joined together after inverting one of the portions so as to produce a combined package of a height equal to the sum of the thicknesses of all the floor boards or panels. Thus by forming the floor sections in graduated widths the several sections maybe nested within the largest section and within each other to form a compact package. Ifonly one row of sections is used, the stacked package will appear as in Fig. 5, and if two rows of sections are used, the stacked package will appear as in Fig. 4.

It is evident that this invention provides a novel portable floor construction which requires 5 Number little efiort to assemble and disassemble, and which when disassembled and packaged as in Fig. 4 or 5, may be easily transported to a new site. The floor of this invention may be utilized as a loading platform or with tents, portable huts and the like where it is desired to have a dry floor. The raised construction of this floor adapts it for use in all types of adverse ground and weather conditions. The height of the joist may of course .be varied to suit the particular ground conditions expected to be encountered. I

In assembling the several sections together, the free edges of the sections may rest freely on the adjacent joist or may be fastened as by screws 26 or other suitable means. The manner of fastening will depend on the character of the installation desired, temporary, semi-permanent, or permanent.

While the invention has been described in more or less detail, it is not to be limited thereby, as changes may be made in the form, arrangement and construction of parts, and equivalents may be substituted, without departing from the spirit and the scope of the invention as claimed, the form hereinbefore described being merely a preferred embodiment thereof.

I claim:

A portable floor construction comprising a series of separable sections joined together in edge-to-edge relationship, one end section being relatively wide and consisting of a panel and a pair of joists connected to the lower side thereof, one of said joists having an edge extending beyond the adjacent edge of the panel and the outer side of th other of said joists coinciding with the opposite edge of the panel, the other sections each consisting of a panel and a single joist, all of said other sections but one having an edge extending beyond the adjacent edge of the panel, the free edges of said panels being supported on the exposed portions of the adjacent joists, all of said sections being of graduated widths, the greatest width of a section having a single joist being less than the width of said one end section, the aggregate thickness of the panels having a single joist corresponding to the height of a joist; whereby the sections may be stacked one within the other with the top of the stack of panels flush with the free ends of the joists of the relatively wide section.

PHILIP W. HARRIS. I

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Name Date Baker Feb. 26, 1901 Meyers Apr. 25, 1905 Hannay July 14, 1925 Cocken, Jr. June 12, 1945 FOREIGN PATENTS Country Date Great Britain 1920 Number 

